business growth Archives - Page 10 of 17

Debt Free Ways to Fund Your Business Growth

Running a small business, and keeping it growing, requires grit, determination, know-how…and money. When your business starts to take off, it can be an exciting time, but also a stressful one, because, well, growth isn’t cheap – in fact, it can consume resources at a frightening pace! On top of needing to fund your operating expenses, you might also need money for expansion, hiring, or replacing your capital assets, and increasing your revenue enough for all of that can be challenging. So what should you do? Apply for a loan? Use up existing business reserves? Max out your credit cards? If these options sound less than ideal, it’s time to consider other ways to create and/or free up cash, so you can fund your growth and keep your business moving forward, without being saddled with tons of extra debt.

Feeling Disinclined to Debt?

arrow going upwards with money and numbers in the background — *Fees or interest rates for a loan might be too high, which is why business owners opt not to get one.*

According to a 2020 Small Business Credit Survey released by a collective of Federal Reserve Banks, 66% of businesses had financial difficulties in 2019, but 57% did not apply for or accept financing or third-party funding. Why? Well, there are multiple reasons, and you might relate to some or all of them:

The fees or interest rate for a loan was too high
The repayment terms for a loan were unfavorable
The amount offered was too little
There were collateral requirements that were too difficult to meet
The business owner simply did not want to accrue more debt

Debt isn’t always a bad thing, but if you recognize in the above your own reasons for shying away from debt-creating ways to fund your growth, consider trying these strategies for funding your growth goals first:

Bring More Cash In

Sure, it can be easier said than done to simply increase sales to keep your business funded, but there are some clever ways you can bring in more cash from your customers:

Raise your prices – Hear us out: we’re not saying you should all of a sudden have a steep increase in prices, because that probably would put customers off. But don’t automatically dismiss the idea, just remember that how you raise your prices matters: for example, most customers won’t really notice an increase of less than 10%. For increases greater than that, consider communicating with your customers or having some sort of enrollment strategy, so you get them emotionally on-board. Another option for strategically raising prices? Offer a volume discount on larger orders.

Reward loyal customers – Any strategy that promotes regular repeat purchases is a great idea, because there are no additional customer acquisition costs. Try a loyalty program: it won’t cost you much, but it can really increase customer satisfaction and retention! In fact, according to a 2014 study by tech services firm Technology Advice, 82% of people said they were more likely to shop at a store that offered a loyalty program.

Upsell and cross-sell – Whenever you can, try to “supersize” your customer to a larger or better service, or cross-sell them some sort of package deal. They’ll get increased value, but your costs for providing the products or services won’t increase exponentially.

Have your customers do some of the work – By using clever marketing strategies such as viral loops, you can get your customers to bring in more business for you by rewarding them for referrals.

Collect your money – If you’ve got a load of unpaid invoices, now is the time to revisit them. You do have the option of selling your unpaid invoices to a collection firm, but you won’t get the full amount owed to you, so you might want to first try strategies for motivating your customers to pay. Think of ways you can encourage early payment (like small discounts or a bonus) so they’ll want to pay, and you won’t be left hunting them down to pay, and will have more cash to put back into your business.

Look at your payment terms – If you’ve been offering very generous long-term payment plans, consider cutting them down for new clients. For example, if you’ve been offering 90 days to pay, offer new customers a 30-day repayment plan. Even better, require a substantial deposit or upfront payment, which is standard in most industries, and certainly not unreasonable.

Examine Where Your Cash Is Going

To prefund your growth, you’ll need to be bringing more cash in, but you’ll also need to be very mindful of how your cash is going out. Find ways to keep more cash in your business by:

Reviewing subscriptions and memberships – Did you sign up for any free trials or subscriptions once upon a time? A 2017 survey found that 48% of participants signed up for free trials that were automatically renewed without their knowledge. Or maybe you’ve got some memberships that you aren’t actively using – if you’re trying to free up cash, get rid of them for now (you can always sign up again at a later date, and maybe you’ll even get another free trial period!).

Renegotiating monthly expenses – Rent, utilities, technology – they’re all major expenses, but sometimes they’re not set in stone. Try renegotiating with your landlord, or playing utility or internet/phone companies off of each other to see if you can get better rates.

Tracking your marketing – Are your marketing dollars being spent in the best way possible? You can’t know for sure unless you’re actually tracking the effectiveness of your strategy, so make sure you stay on top of it.

Looking for cash leaks – Your money might be trickling out in a lot of little slow leaks, so try and plug them wherever you can. Audit your recurring expenses at least once a year, paying special attention to costs that have gradually increased over time, like internet services.

Cut Costs

There are also some more active ways you can keep your money doing what it should be doing – funding your growth:

Downsize – Consider relocating to a smaller space with lower rent/utility costs, or even using a co-working space that doesn’t require a long-term lease.

Sublet/subcontract – If you’ve got physical assets that aren’t in constant use, consider making a little extra cash by subletting them. Or, if you’ve got extra manpower or time, you could do some subcontracting for another business in the short term to get some cash flowing.

Lease – It might be tempting to buy, but it can be more cost-effective to lease, since buying means tying up your cash in a long-term investment.

Split costs – Look into sharing resources, such as employees or internet services, with other similar businesses.

Look at Alternative Funding

If you don’t want to go the loan route, there might be some other ways to bring in outside funding. For example:

Corporate grants – Sometimes large corporations will offer grants for small businesses, especially for those run by members of marginalized groups, so look at your supply chain and see which corporations have philanthropic components, or speak to your local Small Business Development Center (SBDC).

Crowdfunding – Did you know that, according to GoFundMe, there are 21 different crowdfunding sites? Check them all out, because one might be better than another for your business, depending on your goals and needs.

Keeping your small business growing sometimes means taking on debt, but it doesn’t have to mean drowning in it. You can find ways to bring in more revenue and keep more of your cash so that you don’t have to take out massive loans or max out your credit cards – just try the above strategies and you’ll be on your way to some no-debt growth!

The Four Stages of Team Development

If you started your small business on your own, you only had yourself to consult and collaborate with. In some ways, maybe that was easier, but in other ways it was probably holding you back. After all, as business consultant and motivational speaker Ken Blanchard said, “None of us is as smart as all of us.” So if you’ve decided to hire a team, you’re adding brainpower to your business, which can only help you grow!

But now the question becomes, how do you get “all of us” to work together as a cohesive team? This is an important question that sometimes gets overlooked, but just assuming that hiring people and giving them a common goal to work towards will automatically make them a “team” won’t always work. Fortunately, there is a decades-old theory about team development that can help you understand the process by which teams come together, so you can get your employees to collaborate more effectively.

The Importance of Teamwork

By now, most of us have heard someone laughingly say, “Teamwork makes the dream work!” But you know what? As silly of a saying as it is, it’s true. For your business to succeed, it’s crucial that you foster the most effective team dynamics that you can. The importance of teamwork can’t be understated – for example:

86% of employees and executives cite lack of communication or collaboration as the reason for workplace failures
Highly bonded teams show a 21% increase in profitability
88% of employees say that workplace dynamics is important for achieving business goals
Companies and organizations that communicate effectively are 4.5% more likely to retain the best employees
37% of employees say “working with a great team” is their primary reason for staying in their job

It turns out that building a strong team can help your business grow, as well as help you avoid failures and keep the employees that you rely on. Sounds good! So what does having a successful team look like?

What Is a Successful Team?

Successful teams usually share attitudes towards the following things:

A mission – Everyone on the team has a clear understanding of the goals you’re working towards

Commitment – Everyone on the team is “all in,” or willing to put in the time, energy, and attention necessary to achieving the goal

The 3 R’s – Everyone understands the rules, roles, and responsibilities associated with the team

The process – Everyone has agreed on how communication, accountability, and decision making occurs within the group

We would add to that final point that the communication, accountability, and decision making processes need to be effectively managed – so you, as the leader of your team, need to understand how to get them to that point of agreement and harmony.

Four Stages to an Effective Team

It might sound easy on paper: you’ve got individual team members, who are each valuable to your common goal in their own way, with their own unique set of skills, all working towards the same end – rowing the same boat, so to speak. But balancing individual and common goals can be difficult, as can simply getting different people to gel into one group.

Think back to your school days: were you ever put into a group to work on a project? If you were, you probably spent the initial stages of the project just staring at each other, or even working out tensions between different members and their different ideas. But, hopefully, you eventually knew what to expect from each other and how to coordinate your tasks and use your individual skills. In many ways, the business world is no different: you’ve got to get your individuals to move past those stages of uncertainty and develop into a team.

In fact, research supports the theory that teams go through definitive stages as they develop. The most famous model of this comes from psychologist Bruce Tuckman, who in 1965 laid out his four stages of team development. Knowing these 4 stages will help you build a more high-performing team. The stages are:

Forming: Your team has just been introduced, and they’re probably being polite and hesitant with each other, but are excited about getting started. Don’t worry if this stage is focused more on the people than on being productive and getting work done – it’s still very important! What you need to do during this crucial stage is:

Facilitate introductions
Highlight each member’s skills and background
Lay out project goals, timelines, ground rules, and individual roles

Storming: Well, the honeymoon is over. The politeness of the forming stage has worn off, as has the initial excitement, as the realities of the task at hand set in. Personalities might clash, disagreements might come up, but all of this is normal. In fact, if your team seems to be avoiding conflict at all costs, you should actually step in and try to recognize and resolve any problems bubbling below the surface before they blow up. This stage can also be very positive, though, as team members are now more openly sharing ideas – just be on hand to manage competition between team members as they try to find ways to stand out.
Norming: Ah, now your team is starting to settle into a groove. Team members are starting to notice and appreciate each other’s strengths. They might still have disagreements, but responsibilities and goals are clear and respected. Each member works more efficiently because they have learned how to share their ideas and listen to feedback while working toward a common goal. If you need to deal with any disagreements in this stage, it will probably be much easier, but know that conflict might still arise. Don’t forget during this relatively smooth and productive time to check in, and make sure everyone takes some time during the day or week to refocus on the big picture.
Performing: If your team has reached this stage, you’re into smooth sailing and can pat yourself on the back. Now’s a great time for you to focus on your own tasks, because your team is now confident, motivated, and familiar enough with the project and the other members that they require minimal supervision. What you need to do at this stage is remind your team to check in with each other, but you should stay out of their way if possible. Frequent, unscheduled questions or meetings about what they’re working on will only serve to waste time and make them lose their focus. Let them work on growing your business, and allow yourself to focus on that, too!

Seeing a team work together in a highly effective manner is a beautiful thing. But don’t be fooled – that doesn’t just happen. It takes work, and, as the leader of your small business, it is your job to guide your team towards the “performing” stage of team development, so they can achieve their personal goals, the collective goals of the team, and so that you can focus on growing your business. Understanding Tuckman’s Stages can go a long way toward turning a group of employees into a team!

Where Does the Time Go? How to Deal with Work-Related Time Wasters

Time flies when you’re…doing work? Ok, maybe that’s not how the saying goes, but doesn’t it sometimes feel like 8 hours is just not enough time for you and your employees to get everything done? It definitely sounds like a lot of time, so what’s going on? Sure, you could blame all of the personal distractions that tempt everyone throughout the day, like social media and online shopping; after all, research shows that employees spend around an hour and a half everyday scrolling through social media, and 57% of employees confess to shopping online during work. Overall, only 60% or less of work time is actually spent productively, but personal time wasters aren’t the only culprits. There are plenty of work-related distractions that are stealing time and affecting your employees’ (and your) productivity levels.

Email Overload

Has there ever been a bigger revolution in workplace communication than email? There’s no doubt that being able to fire off instantaneous messages to colleagues and customers is extremely beneficial, but there can definitely be a dark side to those digital inboxes. Just consider the following stats:

The average worker sends and receives around 120 emails per day and spends 28% of their workday reading and responding to emails
That 28% is the equivalent to losing around 2.6 hours out of the day
The constant interruptions that come from fielding emails all day can cause us to lose 10 IQ points, which is the same as missing an entire night’s sleep
One study found that, out of 95,000 emails sent, 75,000 emails were internal

So what’s the answer? Well, this can be a tough one, because you can’t simply ban emailing, and many messages are necessary. What you can do, and encourage your employees to do, is to take the following steps to keep things under control:

Consider whether email is really the best choice – Yes, email is easy, but, in all honesty, it isn’t always the easiest option. Could your conversation be had more quickly over the phone? If it’s something that can be resolved with a conversation, you could save days of emailing back and forth.

Don’t make checking your email the first task of the day – We know, it’s tempting, but instead of starting your day by sifting through emails, try setting aside at least 30 minutes at the beginning of your day to work, uninterrupted, on something important. Don’t waste the time when your brain is freshest and most focused!

Set a time limit – If you can, set a time limit for dealing with emails during the day, so you know you’ll have the time to focus on other important things.
Make sure messages are important – Scan subject lines so you can prioritize messages, and unsubscribe to any email lists that aren’t immediately valuable so you can cut down on the clutter.

Interruptions, Unnecessary Procedures, and Menial Tasks

There are so many things that can interrupt the flow of work throughout the day. Take instant messaging, for example. While emails can be contained in an inbox that you can choose to check, those little chats are constantly popping up; in fact, 34% of employees say they’d get more work done if they uninstalled their chat platform.

hands on a keyboard of laptop with a spreadsheet on the screen — *Filling out timesheets and daily reports are repetitive tasks that take up a lot of time.*

But interactions with colleagues aren’t the only types of interruptions that can take employees’ minds off the game. Formal procedures, like tracking down approvals for moving forward on projects, can eat up more time than you think, as can mundane and repetitive tasks like:

Filling out manual timesheets
Giving daily reports
Formatting spreadsheets
Creating slides, etc for meetings and team updates

For the average worker, these tedious tasks are more than an annoyance: they can add up to a full workday each week!

All of these interruptions and low-value tasks can mean a big hit to productivity. Not only does it take the average person 23 minutes to refocus after a distraction, but, according to the American Psychological Association, “even brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40% of someone’s productive time.”

The solution? For repetitive tasks, the answer is fairly simple: try to automate wherever you can. These days, you have multiple options for software suites that will help free up your employees’ time, and even something as simple as creating templates for common documents can really make a difference. And the added bonus? Allowing your employees to use their time and talent for what you hired them for will mean a big boost in employee satisfaction, which will in turn boost productivity.

And how to deal with all of those daily interruptions? Consider establishing “interruption-free” blocks of time during which your employees can get into some focused, deep work. Allow employees the freedom to:

Not answer IMs immediately every time
Find a way to signal to other employees that they are trying to get in the “zone,” such as putting on headphones
Utilize the “do-not-disturb” mode if they are working remotely

Carving out uninterrupted work time also means that whole parts of the day, or even a whole day of the week, should be meeting-free, which brings us to the next big potential time killer.

Unproductive Meetings

There’s a reason that everyone always seems to be complaining about meetings. They pull people away from important work, and they’re just not always necessary. In fact:

42% of employees say that meetings take away from their productivity

In another survey, 67% of employees said that excessive meetings kept them from doing their best work
Every week, the average worker spends around 5 hours in meetings
One survey found that 31 hours per month were spent on unnecessary meetings

Meetings take up the time of every attendee, and it also takes time to schedule and plan them, as well to invite and remind attendees. Once employees are there, they lose focus on their own tasks, and might walk away from the meeting demoralized and uninterested, which can also affect productivity.

But there are ways to tame the beast of unnecessary or unproductive meetings:

Take advantage of technology! – If the problem in your workplace is constant status update meetings, consider using a project management tool. Employees will simply have to check the software to know what page everyone is on.
Question everything – Before scheduling any meeting, ask yourself (or encourage employees to ask themselves): “Can I get this message across with a phone call or email?” If the answer is yes, there’s no need for a meeting.

Make meeting agendas mandatory – Require meetings to have a clear agenda, so that everyone needs to think ahead of time about what they want to actually cover. This will also help to eliminate meetings that could have been a simple email, allow for more productive conversations once you get into the meeting, and weed out unnecessary attendees.

Set a time limit – If every meeting has a clear agenda and everyone has the relevant info ahead of time, there’s no reason not to set a time limit for meetings.

Every workplace has its share of distractions and time wasters, and there’s no way that you can eliminate them all! In fact, many of the things that can stop the flow of work are actually necessary parts of work life, like email, meetings, and admin. But being armed with the knowledge above can help you recognize and identify the problem. By using the tips we’ve provided, you can make some small changes that will add up to big boosts to your productivity.

Small Business Not Growing? Here’s Why

If the business you’ve started is small, the only way to go from there is up, right? If you put in the work, you’re bound to grow from a tiny seed of an organization to a flourishing one! Unfortunately, it’s just not always that simple. And you might be thinking, “I don’t need (or want) to be the head of a huge corporation, so do I really need to worry that I’m not growing as much as I’d like right now?” Well, here’s the thing: if you’re not growing, you could end up stuck in an uncomfortable spot between being the owner of a very small business and a very large one. Being wedged in there means that you’re probably going to be doing all the work to keep things running, while still not seeing much of a return. So it might be time to examine why you’re stuck where you are, and look for solutions to your problem of stagnant growth.

Going in Without a Plan

empty agenda page in a book — *If you do not have a plan, then your business is bound to fail.*

When experts tell you you need a solid business strategy, listen. Your business strategy should include a clear set of plans, actions and goals that outlines how your business is going to compete in your market – and it needs to be written down! If you haven’t done this, you’re basically jumping in with a “fire, aim, ready” approach, hoping that you’re somehow going to achieve your goals.

And speaking of goals, it seems like a lot of small business owners are treating them as simply a buzzword, which can be a huge mistake. According to the Staples National Small Business Survey, 80% of small business owners don’t keep track of their goals! And, you know what, it turns out that, according to some studies, 77% of small business owners fail to achieve their visions. Think those stats might be related?

The solution, according to a Dominican University study, seems to be writing down your goals and making yourself accountable. In the study, 5 groups of business owners set goals and followed increasingly detailed steps; for example, group 1 only thought about their goals, while group 5 wrote their goals down, rated them, formulated actions, and sent their plans to a supportive friend along with weekly progress reports. The result? 76% of participants in group 5 achieved their goals, or were at least halfway there.

“Growing” It Alone

We’ve already covered how you should never ignore advice about creating your business strategy and setting goals, but the same goes for any advice that you’ve sought from trusted sources. We get that you’re protective about the way you run your business, but sometimes you need to hear straight talk from someone who’s been there.

And ignoring sound advice isn’t the only problematic way for you to go it alone. There’s a whole community of entrepreneurs out there, all at different stages of their business journeys that you could be speaking to. We’re not saying you have to seek out and fraternize with the competition; what we are saying is that interacting with like-minded business owners in any field can foster creativity, help you identify blind spots, and build self-confidence.

Not Having the Right Team

illustration of two people with graphs in front of them — *Having the right team is important in order to grow your business. You can’t do it alone.*

Not seeking advice from pros or talking to your peers can hold you back, and so can trying to do all of the day-to-day work of your business alone. You might be a one-man band when you first start your business, but if you want to grow, you’re going to need to hire a team, or at least outsource some of your tasks. No one can do everything – and even if you think you have 25 hours in the day to get everything done, remember that no one can do everything well! You’ll need to set up a process for hiring and training high-quality employees, and you’ll need to be comfortable with making changes in your team as needed along the way.

Lack of Investment

Growing businesses are like cash vacuums. As you grow, you might need to invest in new technology, a bigger space, more employees, or more equipment, and that means constantly finding ways to pump cash into your business. That could mean seeking out more investors, applying for business loans, or using up any cash you have on hand. If that sounds exhausting, well, it can be – and if you choose to jump off that hamster wheel for a while, you could find that the growth of your business slows down.

Cutting Corners

Yes, it’s tough getting the constant flow of cash that your business needs. But that doesn’t mean you should be pinching pennies at every opportunity. For example, hiring inexperienced vendors, not investing in necessary technology, not putting in the resources necessary to hire the right staff, or skimping on health and safety can all come back to bite you, and could end up costing you more in the long run. Instead, try cost-cutting (not corner-cutting!) strategies like negotiating with your landlord or vendors or outsourcing or making some employees remote.

Having the Wrong Attitude Towards Customers

Since we’re talking about cutting corners, another thing that should never fall by the wayside is customer support. No customers, no business, right? But it can be easy for them to get lost in the shuffle with all of these other considerations. Make sure that everyone associated with your business always treats customers with respect and never dismisses them as impossible to please. Because you know what? Even “difficult” customers have lots of friends and family, and word can travel fast. Remember, dissatisfied customers will tell between 9 and 15 people about their negative experience!

Ignoring Branding, or Failing to “Look the Part”

One more thing you shouldn’t skimp on? Branding. And that’s not to be confused with a marketing strategy; you need to think about branding your business, or establishing a powerful message surrounding your business, before you can begin spreading that message. Remember, your messaging will determine if your message actually gets seen. You need to have a compelling message that proves to your prospective clients or customers that your product or service is the solution to their problem.

Looking the part goes hand-in-hand with creating the right brand and message. And what do we mean by “looking the part?” Well, think of it this way, if you want prospective clients or customers to take you seriously, you have to project the right image. That means not making your business look amateurish with a poorly designed logo, a low-quality, DIY website, or inactive social media accounts.

Once you’ve gotten a handle on your brand, then you can begin to implement an effective marketing strategy, which should include social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, and email marketing.

Undervaluing Your Product or Service

If you’re afraid of overpricing your products or services, you could end up underpricing them. Sure, when you first start out you might want to competitively price your products or services to attract customers, but as you get more established, you should reflect your know-how, experience, or the quality of your products in your prices. Overcome fear-based pricing; remember, when you declare the value of your products or services, that is the value people believe it has.

When it comes to small businesses, growth is never a guarantee. It takes hard work, reaching out, and taking risks. It also takes constantly evaluating what you’re doing, recognizing the mistakes you’re making and having the ability to change course. Use the above tips to help you get that critical eye, and move forward towards your goals!

What Rate of Growth Should You Be Shooting for?

Is your small business growing? Hopefully! After all, nothing is more frustrating than putting all your time and energy into your business and not generating an output equal to your input into your business. Not only that, but if you’re not growing enough to bring in enough revenue, you could be in trouble: according to the Chamber of Commerce, almost half of all small businesses that fail cite not having enough money coming in to pay employees and deal with other expenses as the main reason for their failure.

All that being said, not every small business is going to grow at the same rate – and not every growth rate is going to be right for your business at every point in time. It’s important to not only know your current rate of growth, but also what rate of growth to expect at the different stages of your business’ development.

What’s Your Growth Rate?

Why should you know your business’ growth rate? Well, it’s fairly simple: your company’s growth rate is an indicator of its profitability and sustainability. It not only shows how fast you are growing now, but can also help you project your growth over time. You can use this information to figure out how best to distribute your resources, to work out your operational and staffing plans, and also to show to investors or lenders. There are different ways to calculate your growth rate, and you will still need to factor in things like marketing and insurance costs, but the following is a simple formula you can use to figure out your monthly revenue growth rate:

{[(Second Month Revenue)-(First Month Revenue)]/(First Month Revenue)}

When looking at annual growth, as a general benchmark, companies should have an average of between 15% and 45% year-over-year growth. But that can all depend not only on your industry, but also on where your business is in its lifecycle. You don’t want to have unrealistic expectations, but on the other hand, you shouldn’t be limiting yourself! Sometimes aggressive or ambitious growth goals are achievable, but you need to know when to expect rapid growth.

How Fast Should You Be Growing?

One of the major things to consider when determining what your growth rate is – and what it should be – is the stage that your business is in. Have you just built it from the ground up, for example? If so, you’re going to have greater growth rates, as zero to any amount of revenue is a large increase. Take a look at the following growth rates to shoot for at every stage of your business:

Hypergrowth – Spent any time in Silicon Valley? Then you might be familiar with this term, and its relation to booming tech startups. Achieving hypergrowth means that you’re growing at a rate of 2, 3, or even 4 times. This might sound impossible, but it is actually a fairly solid goal if you’re a new company. Think about this: if you’re just starting out and making $500 a month, shooting up to $2,000 a month is usually pretty achievable. If you’re making $25 million a year (well done, you!), then rocketing to $100 million a year probably isn’t going to happen. So, consider this hypergrowth stage as temporary, and think about what you should be shooting for after you make it past your first year.

Do you want to double your growth with rapid growth or do do you want a steady growth over time?

Rapid growth – Even after your first year, you could still be doubling the size of your business every 12-18 months if things are really going well. This would be considered rapid growth, and could last into your second or even third year if you have aggressive growth goals. As you become more established, though, doubling your business is not the most realistic goal.

Steady growth – Once you’ve been around for a bit longer, but less than 7 years or so, you should be thinking about settling into a steady growth stage. You can still be ambitious and shoot for around 50-75% year-over-year growth, but unless you’re marketing a new business, you’ve had an advertising breakthrough or there’s been a positive change in your product or service’s market, for example, you’re probably past the stage of doubling your business.

Mature growth – If you’ve made it to the 7 year mark, congratulations! After all, after 10 years, only about a third of businesses have survived. If you’ve made it to this point, you’ve found a good place in the market – but that means that you should also expect your growth rate to be a lot slower at this point. Your goal should be anywhere from as low as 10% to around 25% growth, depending on how fast your market is growing. In most cases, the only way to go back to any of the above stages is to start innovating or change up your business model. If you add a new product or service, or find a new marketing channel, you could actually catapult yourself briefly back into the hypergrowth stage.

Increased Market Demand = Increased Growth

new product written in red — *You can add a new product in order to increase your growth.*

The above stages of growth are the most likely scenarios for the progression of your business over the years. But if you find a way to harness increased market demand for your product or services, you could speed up your growth rate. For example, the following might generate increased demand for your product or services:

Entering an untapped market
Adding new products or services to your existing products or services
A competitor leaving your market
Creating a new demand
Consumers shifting their tastes toward a new type of product (think phone technology)

Remember, business growth is an ongoing process. Your goals for growth will (and should) change over time as your business matures. Growth will slow as you find your place in the market, but you can jumpstart it with innovation. Whatever your rate of growth right now, make sure that you have both long and short-term growth strategies in place. Know your growth rate and know where it’s likely to head, and you’ll be ready for whatever comes your way.

Pulling in Prospects: Using a Sales Funnel to Grow Your Business

Selling has changed a lot in the last few decades. Advertising used to be all about finding a way to get everyone’s eyes on your printed ads, then it was about using the airwaves, and now? It’s all about digital marketing. But with so much digital noise out there, how do you cut through it all and attract the customers you need to grow your business? One way to do it by familiarizing yourself with the concept of the sales funnel, and using this core concept to pull in prospects and then turn them into customers.

What Is a Sales Funnel?

The easiest way to grasp the concept of a sales funnel is to picture an actual funnel in your mind: it’s wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. The wider part is where you pour in a substance, which will then trickle out of the narrower bottom into its destination. With a sales funnel, that wider part represents the largest group of people you’re dealing with: potential customers. You need to attract these prospects to your business (the top of your funnel); they will then move through multiple marketing steps, and eventually a few will come out the other side as committed customers. The bottom is narrower because you’ll inevitably have more prospects at the top than buyers at the bottom, but also because your messaging needs to become increasingly targeted.

The 4 Stages

To better understand the concept of a sales funnel, you need to understand the 4 sales funnel stages, which represent how your customer is thinking at each point in the marketing process. Each stage requires you to take a different approach so you can send the right message at the right time and move your prospective customer through to the next stage of the funnel.

Awareness – This is arguably the most important stage. Before you can gain any customers, you’ve got to get their attention! Prospects can come to your business in multiple ways, whether it’s through a social media post, a Facebook ad, a Google search, or a post shared by the prospect’s friend. Once you’ve gotten on their radar, you’ve got to make sure they’re engaged with your brand and find ways to pull them back to your site.

The 4 stages of the sales funnel are: awareness, interest, decision and action.

Interest – Your prospect is now aware of your business, and is interested enough to add you to their list as they do their research and comparison shopping. While they’re thinking over their options, you need to step in and offer them your help and pique their interest further with some great content. The key during this stage? As tempting as it might be, DON’T rush in and start selling or pushing your product yet!

Decision – It’s crunch time: your lead is ready to buy. But they might still be considering multiple options, so you need to sweeten the deal. Offer something that might set you apart from your competitors: free shipping, a bonus service, or a discount code, for example. Just make them an offer they can’t refuse!

Action – Finally, the lead has come to the bottom of your sales funnel and is emerging out the other end as a committed customer. They purchase your product or service and are now part of your business – so that means you need to act, too! At this point, you need to focus on customer retention by thanking them, welcoming their feedback, and keeping the lines of communication open.

How to Build Your Sales Funnel

It might all sound like a lot to think about, but there are some steps you can follow to get your sales funnel going and pulling people in quickly!

Work on getting your audience’s attention – As they say in the theater business, it’s all about getting behinds in seats – or, in this case, it’s all about getting your target audience’s eyes on your digital marketing. Do everything you can to do this: go organic, posting tons of content across all of your platforms, including blogs, videos, and snappy infographics, or spend some money and go for paid ads – or both!

Build a great landing page – Once you’ve got your prospects’ attention, they’ll hopefully click through – so you need a great landing page to make the perfect first impression. Make sure it not only looks great, but that it also has an easy and enticing way for leads to sign up for an email list or subscription to your site. That contact info is all-important!

Create an email drip campaign – Now that you’ve got contact info, start wowing your prospects with some great content, sent out about once or twice a week. Don’t push or sell; rather, offer help, information, or even inspiration. Move towards a goal of finally making your prospects a great offer.

Offer to upsell or downsize – If you’ve got a customer who has made a purchase or is about to make a purchase, consider offering them the opportunity to upgrade in a way that will deliver even more of a benefit to them (and to you). Conversely, though, you can also offer a customer who is reluctant to buy because of budget constraints a way to downsize. You might not end up making as much money, but you could be gaining a very satisfied customer who will continue to work with you in the future.

Follow up – As we pointed out earlier, just because your new customer has completed the “action” stage, doesn’t mean that your job is done. You need to keep in touch with thank you’s, additional offers, and targeted content. Consider keeping them as part of your business’ ecosystem by inviting them to join a membership-based rewards program.

No doubt about it, it’s a jungle out there! There’s a huge amount of competition: remember, most of your competitors have an online presence, too, so you’re going to have to put some time into creating an effective sales funnel. But if you do take the time to build a sales funnel that focuses on what your prospective customers want, and you keep nurturing it over time, you’ll end up with a well-oiled machine that can’t help but grow your business!

Tag: business growth